GPS Kids | Meet Molly and Coach Jenny at the Garmin Store in Chicago

We’ll be in good company for Saturday’s event at the Garmin Store in Chicago when we celebrate our sponsorship of the Girls on the Run SoleMates program. Guests will hear from two women who’ve been heroes, coaches and mentors to many: Molly Barker and Coach Jenny Hadfield. Molly, founder of Girls on the Run, has a star-studded fitness resume that includes four performances as a Hawaii Ironman athlete. Molly was honored in 2006 as one of Runner’s World’s “Heroes of Running”, not for her personal athletic feats, but for developing a program that’s helped thousands of young girls discover their own potential and voice. Girls on the Run is a program for young girls that combines training for a 5k event with healthy lifestyle education. On Saturday, Molly will be talking to a crowd of fitness fans and Chicago-area Girls on the Run followers about the program and SoleMates, the adult charity running program that benefits GOTR.

Coach Jenny Hadfield is a well-known Chicago-based coach, endurance athlete and contributor to Runner’s World and other pubs and a co-author of Marathoning for Mortals. Jenny recently developed the training plans provided to all SoleMates runners. On Saturday, she’ll offer up some tips for using Garmin fitness devices in training. Coach Jenny can speak from experience not only as an athlete and coach, but as a long-time Garmin user. At last count, Jenny and her husband John “the Penguin” Bingham (also an author, coach and athlete well-known in running circles) have owned at least eight Garmin devices, including Forerunners in about every flavor, an Edge, a nüvi, a zūmo and a handheld for hiking. Jenny said they used the Garmin handheld and a Forerunner 305 to mark the Antarctica Marathon course. The photo on right shows their grandson and Garmin fan, Hunter Bingham, giving the Forerunner 310XT a trial run on a recent camping trip.

If you’re in Chicago this weekend for Sunday’s Rock’n’Roll half marathon or you just want to hear more about how Garmin’s stepping up to sponsor the Girls on the Run SoleMates program, come see us. The event starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Garmin Store, 663 N. Michigan Ave. Attendees will receive free giveaways from CamelBak and Clif Bar, plus a chance to win a Garmin Forerunner 110.

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